20000102

Millennium twins

born in Jordan

AMMAN: Millennium twins were born to a Jordanian couple as the clocks struck midnight to usher in the New Year in the kingdom, officials at Al-Bashir hospital told AFP.

Kifaa Ghneimat, mother of a two-year-old girl, gave birth to twin boys, Abdul Fattah and Mohammed, they said.

The cries of the twin bundle of joy were covered up by the sound of fireworks that lit up the sky over Amman when midnight struck.

No official millennium celebrations were organised in Jordan, where the mostly Muslim population is observing Ramazan, a month of dawn-to-dusk fasting which ends next week with the Fitr Feast.

Meanwhile officials reported no sign of the millennium bug in any of the kingdom's vital sectors.

"The situation is excellent and all the reports we have received from the country's vital sectors indicate that there are no problems due to the bug," the head of a national task force, Yussaf Nosseir told AFP one hour into the New Year.

But the National Information Center set up three years ago to prepare the country for any mishap related to the computer bug known as Y2K will continue to monitor the situation until Tuesday, he said.

Thirty emergency centres have been operating since December 30, across Jordan, linked to an operations room at civil defence headquarters, manned by representatives of the country's telecommunications, civil aviation, electricity, water, banking and petrochemical and other vital services.ÑAFP